Topic: Nintendo Not Hosting 'Large-Scale' Presentation at E3 2013

[Fatty The Hutt]

it comes across that Nintendo is more insular and are seperating themselves from the rest of the industry.  Like Nintendo doesn't make "real" videogame systems, but instead make some bizarre specialized Nintendo machine for kids, casuals and Nintendo fans. 

You know what? Fine by me. If I have to hear any more sh*t hype from slobbering 24 year old "journalists" about the next "cool" shooter or zombie game, I may just have to slit my own throat.


I am so bored by the vast majority of over-hyped, samey-seeming garbage coming for MS and Sony systems. I am not remotely bored by Nintendo. Quite the opposite, in fact.

[broodwars]

it comes across that Nintendo is more insular and are seperating themselves from the rest of the industry.  Like Nintendo doesn't make "real" videogame systems, but instead make some bizarre specialized Nintendo machine for kids, casuals and Nintendo fans. 

You know what? Fine by me. If I have to hear any more sh*t hype from slobbering 24 year old "journalists" about the next "cool" shooter or zombie game, I may just have to slit my own throat.


I am so bored by the vast majority of over-hyped, samey-seeming garbage coming for MS and Sony systems. I am not remotely bored by Nintendo. Quite the opposite, in fact.

As opposed to the vast majority of "over-hyped, samey-seeming garbage" that Nintendo seems to produce these days, of course. Different tastes, man.  Some folks like playing games beyond what Nintendo is willing to produce.  I'm not terribly fond of some of the more-hyped games on the other systems, myself, but I don't see them as being any more "samey" than Nintendo's nostalgia-dependent software.

And, incidentally, Nintendo doesn't get to determine who they compete against. That's determined by the market, and the market has determined that the Wii U is less desirable than the PS3, Xbox 360, and the original Wii. Sounds to me like Nintendo's competing with Sony and Microsoft, whether they want to admit it or not.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Different tastes, man. 

Totally agree. Was just expressing mine.


I think we're also differing on defining "compete". I think Nintendo does not "compete" in the sense they aren't tailoring their decisions on what the other two console makers are doing. Of course they are competing in the same marketplace. Nintendo has also stated in the past that their view of competition is wider that the big 3 console makers. They compete for my time with many other pursuits, not just console gaming. This smacks of corp-speak and it is also fairly trite. But I was only mentioning it in the context of Nintendo's E3 decisions. They apparently don't give a rat's ass anymore, if they ever did, how the other 2 console makers are presenting their offerings. I say, good for Nintendo.

[AnGer]

This may not be such a dumb idea. PS4 and XBox 3 will be all the rage at E3 and whatever Nintendo will present will most likely be marginalized, no matter what they present. Also, they apparently want different content for different people – the press, the developers and the consumers.

Good going, Nintendo.

[Ian Sane]

What I want out of Nintendo is really just a good general videogame system.  Like I don't want some Nintendo-specific machine or a Nintendo-less basic videogame console.  I like both Nintendo games and third party games and think it's largely arbitrary that I have to buy two videogame consoles to achieve this when back when I became a Nintendo fan I only had to buy one.  It's also my interest in Nintendo that is the sole reason why I have to buy two as anyone who isn't that interested in Nintendo is content with one non-Nintendo console.  Now if this just doesn't happen, that's fine, but I want Nintendo to at least TRY to give me a console that has both.

In regards to creativity with games the entire industry has its heads up their asses.  I'm pretty disinterested in the direction almost everyone is going, Nintendo included.  I find Nintendo a little more annoying because they used to have a reputation for creativity and they act like they still do.  They talk about innovation like they're the masters of it and then give us the most cliche cookie-cutter filler you could think of.  Most of the big publishers these days are stale boring hacks... Nintendo is just the only one that is also a hypocrite.

My concern about Nintendo not going with a big presentation this time is who is perceived as the weaker party?  Does E3 look bad because a big player like Nintendo is scaling back their presence or does Nintendo look like they're scaling back because they're not worthy of their own presentation at E3 anymore?  Will people assume E3 is in trouble or Nintendo is?  I think that next year it would be E3 that would look bad to have Nintendo scale back but Nintendo is the one stumbling right now so people will assume the worst.  You don't want to give the impression that "Nintendo's Wii U is such a flop that they didn't even do a big show like Sony and MS did."

Does E3 not get the big boys anymore or is Nintendo no longer a big boy?  I don't think Nintendo has enough clout right now to give across the impression that E3 is beneath them.  This just isn't the year to do this.

[tendoboy1984]

What a bunch of crybabies. So what if Nintendo decided to hold smaller press events at E3? We'll still get all the news reported by NWR, IGN, GameSpot, GoNintendo, etc.

[tendoboy1984]

Sounds to me like Nintendo's competing with Sony and Microsoft, whether they want to admit it or not.

Nintendo is actually competing with themselves, because the 3DS is selling at a faster pace than the Wii U. And all 3 console makers (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) are competing with Apple, Amazon (Kindle Fire), and the various Android manufacturers. Cause mobile gaming is the new big thing these days...

[NWR_insanolord]

As Nintendo said a few years ago, they're competing with literally everything else anyone might do with their free time. Nintendo over the years has done everything from claiming they compete for everything to claiming they don't have competitors.

[MagicCow64]

Leaving other elements of this aside, I'm baffled by people claiming that Nintendo is somehow going to do better with this strategy than with a full-on presentation. As far as I know, Nintendo has always had closed door demo sessions at E3 with major gaming outlets. Now that's their only exposure.

[TJ Spyke]

No, that is not all they will have. They just said they will do smaller events, but it's more than just the closed door demos.

[ShyGuy]

The rest of the industry wants to be Michael Bay. Let them burn.

[Luigi Dude]

Back in E3 2006, the biggest news was the Smash Bros Brawl reveal, which was done in a closed meeting a day after the conference.  This pretty much proves how pointless the big conferences are and I'm surprised it took Nintendo this long to figure it out when 2006 already made it clear.

People will go crazy over the games shown as long as they're shown.  Doesn't matter if it's on a big stage or a small room.  As long as the big Wii U games are shown in some form, that's all that's important.

[ThePerm]

I think I've seen about 3 Nintendo Directs that were better than the conferences. The Nintendo Direct just before e3 last year, was actually better than the e3 show. If they did 3-5 of those then that would be plenty.

I'd imagine there would be an initial Nintendo direct that would introduce a series of Nintendo directs throughout the week. If I were to do it, I would do it in teasers. I would start 3 days before the show and then each successive day release another one until the end of the show.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Am I the only one who enjoys the bizarre spectacle of the E3 Press conference? I actually think they're a lot of fun.

[NWR_insanolord]

Am I the only one who enjoys the bizarre spectacle of the E3 Press conference? I actually think they're a lot of fun.

I think most people enjoy that, I'm just not sure it benefits Nintendo.

[Caterkiller]

E3 is good for hype but when has anything ever fallen or risen simply because of E3? Does GTA ever get revealed at E3? I'm honestly not sure.

Nintendo is having 2 smaller events instead and I don't see how ultimately the result wont be the same.

And for those guys who just think Nintendo is throwing in the towel and have nothing to show, come on. I'm certainly pro Nintendo and optimistic towards them but I do know there is a lot left to be desired. Still the super naysayers act like they've never seen a console go from zero to hero before and every questionable action is the last.

[TJ Spyke]

Does GTA ever get revealed at E3? I'm honestly not sure.

They unveiled GTA: Chinatown Wars at E3.

[Caterkiller]

Does GTA ever get revealed at E3? I'm honestly not sure.

They unveiled GTA: Chinatown Wars at E3.

Oh yeah the "fake" one nobody cared about. I guess that was the only one and being for Nintendo I guess it was somewhat of a big deal.

Either way I don't think anything is going to change as far as a final result in all aspects. If Nintendo busts out Wii Fit U and it detects diseases and heart problems you better believe the whole world is going to want to know what that thing is. If GTA gets some timed exclusive deal the world is going to know and nothing will stop every news site from reporting it, with or without a stage conference.

[smashbrolink]

I don't think this is going to be a big deal-breaker for Nintendo.
The people who pay attention to the gaming side of E3, are gamers, not the general public, as a general rule.[Ha! I made a not-so-funny!]
Most gamers are going to be watching the internet for news on the show before, during, and even after the show is over, as well as watching it on TV.
Anyone who knows the name Nintendo, and has even the slightest of passing interests in what they've got up their sleeves, is going to hear about Nintendo just by being on the internet around gaming sites.[unless said sites are dedicated to other systems and don't allow talk of Nintendo, or are a hater site black-listing any positive info from Nintendo]

Nintendo isn't going to lose any coverage from the gamers that matter here, because most of the gamers on earth have some way, some how, of finding internet access to check the latest news from any of the big three.
Plus, by using Directs, they've got the opportunity to put out info on their games before E3, which is going to focus mostly on the new SYSTEMS that are coming out, which Nintendo does not have to show, since they've already done so.

By not bothering with revealing everything at E3, they're avoiding having anything they've got being overshadowed by the announcements of hardware, which generally overshadows game announcements no matter who's doing it.

Shifting the deliverance methods of their games is a smart move in this case, and I can guarantee you that they'll be back at a future E3 the very next time they have a new piece of hardware, or something super-significant to say about the tech aspects of current hardware, to talk about.

[Sundoulos]

I don't think I've watched a full Nintendo E3 presentation since 2010 (after I heard about the Kid Icarus 3DS game trailer), and I can't remember the last time I could bear sitting through one of Sony and Microsoft snoozefests.  The sales and marketing stuff that was so pervasive in many of the presentations during the aught years wouldn't have been interesting to me unless I was an investor. 

I can imagine that by doing things the way it seems that Nintendo is planning, it will be more cost-effective.  It also gives them an opportunity to show and demonstrate their products on their own terms.

I'm fine with the Nintendo Direct format, it has a very focused message, and I think it is a great way for them to communicate directly to the fans.  It also has had the effect of giving fans and customers a few voices and faces that they can associate with the company; it's obvious that the Nintendo of today tries to be a bit more communicative than even the Nintendo of the recent past.